AHB Articles: Fermenting Directly in the No-chill Cube

[manticle]

This is the discussion topic for article: Fermenting Directly in the No-chill Cube

 

[Truman42]

Great article Mants.

Fermenting into a no chill cube is just to easy and eliminates the need for me to have a cube and a fermenter. Also my cube fits in my little bar fridge but my fermenter won't.

 

[JDW81]

Great article Mants.

Fermenting into a no chill cube is just to easy and eliminates the need for me to have a cube and a fermenter. Also my cube fits in my little bar fridge but my fermenter won't.

You've just inspired me to ferment my next brew in the cube. Bollocks to cleaning a fermenter if I don't need to.

Manticle, have you ever used an aeration stone and aquarium pump with this method, or do you find a jolly old shaking to be sufficient?

 

[manticle]

I've never used a pump or aeration stone in my life.

Shaking does the trick for me but I don't have the other to compare it with. If you have and can use said equipment, try a side by side. I'd be interested to know.

Beer behaves similarly to when I used to pour from height into a fermenter though and similarly to when I used a whisk so it's as good as those methods in real terms (can't say in terms of oxygen addition ppm, just in fermentation behaviour and flavour of final product).

 

[keifer33]

Great work Manticle, after reading your posts in the past I think its time to give this a whirl and fck off the fermenters which will save space.

 

[Jace89]

Ive been fermenting in my no chill cubes now for awhile, I can stack them in my fridge and cleaning is to easy. I recently brought a plate chiller and still choose to ferment in my cubes if I do choose to use the chiller.

Now that this article is out I no longer feel like a cool kid...

 

[TBird]

Good work Manticle

Well set out procedure and easy to follow. Where do you get pure sodium percarbonate?

Cheers

 

[manticle]

You can buy small quantities at an inflated price from home brew shops. Usually sold as Oxyper or similar (not oxyclean though). We got some in Melbourne in a recent bulk buy which iamozziyob organised. He'll be able to tell you the supplier but I have previously found it on the net.

I know some QLDers also got some in a bulk buy a while ago. 25kg bags for under 1.50 a kg. I got half a bag and expect it to last some time (and I use it generously)

 

[razz]

A good read Manticle. I love the second line in the first paragraph.

 

[Rowy]

Just hit flameout. Might use this as my first brew to try this. Great article mate.

 

[Benchish]

The shape of the "Cube" could play an issue in fermentation character, as it will change the surface area of the yeast cake exposed to the beer and the convection patterns of the fermenting beer.

I'm not sayings its a bad thing but you may get a slightly different character using different shaped fermenters. I know that some styles of english fermenters were square (yorkshire square) although they have largely been replaced now.

 

[manticle]

It could.

On an HB level, I'd be surprised if anyone could pick the difference - on a large commercial scale where that surface area is massively different, maybe. Again - try a side by side, same recipe and conditions and see if there's a difference and if it's a negative one.

It certainly won't make your beer ****, all else being equal so you have nothing to lose by having a crack.

Conjecture and hypothesis is interesting but real results (when talking home brewing rather than philosophy) are more so.

 

[brucearnold]

Good work Manticle

Well set out procedure and easy to follow. Where do you get pure sodium percarbonate?

Cheers

Canberra Brewers have got it from Redox in Sydney in the past, but more recently from Canberra Discount Cemicals at $50 for 25kg. You are sure to have a similar store to this near you.

 

[Yob]

melbourne bulk buy was also Redox and found them to be great to deal with.

 

[Yob]

On topic..

my only personal concern with this method would be the headspace I usuually have available. From what Ive worked out with my system, I get pretty much an as near full as possible to full in a good old bunnings 20lt cube (23 full), I perhaps squeezed out 500ml headspace on my brew this weekend. I helps I have the natural angles in my brewspace to allow for topping the cube on an angle. (I had roughly 2lt of trub/dead space in keggle when the cube was full... was well impressed with brewbrite)

On other topics we have discussed leaving a brew on the cake and not racking to enable the 'bulk cake' to help in clean up post fermentation... my concern would be that I would, without doubt, would be be having to utilise a blow off tube to prevent massive overflow, to wit, my current house yeast is an explosive 4+ inch krausen making (in a 30lt FV) Mo Fo -05. No way im gettin that into a cube and keeping it there without a drama.

...a few years ago, and my recipes/methods at the time may well have been flawed at the time, I did a side by side cube ferment with blow off tubes and didnt like the results.. of either batch, I think it was a single hop addition same base recipe experiment.. could dig it up I guess, was a bloody long time ago :unsure:

I know you have made beer like this for a while and I have certainly enjoyed a few of them, I guess the question is do you perceive an issue with the mess of some yeasts with regard to available headspace and the conditioning of the beer?

I hope that question has some logic...

I may also be rambling

Yob

 

[brucearnold]

We all do our best to oxygenate the wort at the start of ferment, so by having a lack of head space in a cube, would this have an effect on the ferment as there isn't that extra oxygen in the head space for use? I guess the question really is, is the oxygen in the head space used by the yeast in the ferment?

 

[Yob]

the O2 dissolved into the the wort is used by yeast in the budding stage and is of great benifit to yeast health in the early stages of fermentation for budding new cells.

got little to do with the headspace as far as I can tell.

ed: spoiling

 

[Clutch]

What would be the issues with NC'ing in a 25l cube with a 20l batch, so there is 5l of headspace?

 

[Rowy]

the O2 dissolved into the the wort is used by yeast in the budding stage and is of great benifit to yeast health in the early stages of fermentation for budding new cells.

got little to do with the headspace as far as I can tell.

ed: spoiling

Is headspace then just about containing the krausen or does it perform some other function?

 

[ShredMaster]

Any o2 in the headspace would be quickly purged by the co2 output from the yeast which is coming out actively during the ferment. Even just the start of a ferment will quickly produce enough co2 to purge any benefit of o2 in the headpsace.

Well, that's what I reckon anyway. /shrug


Cheers,
Shred.